Therapeutic Fibbing and Dementia Patients
Therapeutic fibbing is when you tell a fib or bend the truth to fit the reality of a person who has dementia. This is done when behavior needs to be encouraged for your loved one’s wellbeing or safety. Therapeutic fibbing when warranted can affect wellbeing and health in a positive way. Using this technique is not for situations where you need to tell the truth such as a relative passing away if you are asked why the person doesn’t visit anymore. It can be used, however, to help reduce emotional distress and to try to stop behavior which is troubling.
When to use therapeutic fibbing
So, when you do use therapeutic fibbing? Do some situations warrant it more than others? Are other means to be used first? Below are some suggestions on the use of therapeutic fibbing:
- Try a diversional tactic first: You can try to distract your family member by changing the subject. Another tactic is to respond and try to identify what’s causing the behavior. Maybe your father thinks that it’s time to go to the store. You can tell him that the store has closed, and it’s too late to go. This may interrupt the loop of thinking so that he goes onto another subject.
- Mix up the methods: Use therapeutic fibbing in a combination with other methods like distraction and with moderation.
- Keeping the loved one safe: By using therapeutic fibbing as a technique for safety and wellbeing, it can help to enhance your loved one’s wellbeing and quality of life. This technique can be used when you’re trying to get the person to go to the doctor, for example. You would mention that you are doing something else if you always get resistance about doctor’s visits; like going to a favorite restaurant. You still go to the restaurant; you just leave out the doctor’s visit that’s first.
- Realize exactly what you’re dealing with: As Alzheimer’s and dementia slowly destroy a person’s brain, it also destroys that person’s ability to store memories and to process them. As the disease progresses the person affected then becomes incapable of recognizing what is reality and what isn’t. If you try to force your loved one to try to understand something that he or she is having difficulty with, then it can cause greater confusion, discomfort and severe agitation.
- If it’s not broke, don’t fix it: This means if your loved one is in his or her own world and no harm will come from it, don’t worry about it.
- Your intuition will guide you: You know the person that you’re caring for. If a moment becomes uncomfortable or threatening for your loved one, your instincts are better to handle this than other people’s who aren’t professionals.
Other ways therapeutic fibbing can help
There are other ways that therapeutic fibbing can help when you’re dealing with your loved one. One thing to keep in mind is that a person who has dementia lives in a world of fear and confusion. Things, places and faces that your loved one once knew now may have become frightening and unfamiliar. But when you’re completely honest with a person like this, it can cause more harm than good. So, by using therapeutic fibbing it can help to reduce that person’s stress, agitation and anxiety when confronted with; for them, what are frightening situations.
Other times to reduce a tense situation distraction works though. An example is if you’ve recorded your senior’s favorite show or shows and that person is in an apprehensive or fearful situation, you can tell your loved one then that those shows are on. Then go and turn on the TV and pull up one of the shows.
As a caregiver, you’ll have to adapt to each situation as it arises. However, knowing that a little fib won’t hurt, but may help provide some relief for you and your senior is a way to cope.